The present disclosure relates to a composition for filling and sealing of joints and/or cracks, preferably in horizontal and/or vertical surfaces, preferably in concrete components and/or pavements, and a method for filling a joint and/or a crack.
Compositions for filling and sealing of joints and/or cracks are widely known. For example, compositions with bitumen are used as jointing material especially in roads, as bitumen is a relatively low-cost product of petroleum distillation which, due to its elastoplastic characteristics, is not only used as a binder in asphalt, but additionally, in an elastomer-modified, i.e., polymer-modified form, used as grout.
Grouts based on bitumen are used in particular as hot-poured compositions or in the form of bitumen joint tapes for filling horizontally arranged joints and/or cracks. These are addressed, in particular, in the “Additional Technical Contract Conditions and Guidelines for Joints in Traffic Areas, 2001 edition (ZTV Fug-StB 01)”.
Generally, bitumen is characterized by a good resistance to aqueous acids and alkalis. Therefore, for example, asphalt surfaces, such as those in the field of LAU systems (facilities for the storage, filling and handling of water-hazardous substances), gas stations, or JGS systems (systems for air-tight storage and/or loading of fertilizer, especially slurry including artificial slurries, solid manure, liquid manure, animal excreta of non-agricultural origin, including material mixed with refuse or in processed form, liquid waste incurred by cell disruption or through exposure to compression during the manufacture or storage of silage (silage effluent) or silage or silage and fermented acid) such as silos, lagoons, silos, manure cellars and sewers, solid manure plates and loading areas, along with the associated pipelines, are built out of poured asphalt. For highly stressed surfaces, particularly LAU plants, but also JGS systems, there is a need for joint and crack filling materials, which are compatible with asphalt. For horizontal joints in this area, hot-poured bitumen fill compositions or bitumen joint tapes are typically used. For vertical joints, however, compositions based on polysulfides and/or polyurethanes are more commonly used.
For example in silos, which are often equipped with poured asphalt floors, problems persist with the connection of horizontal and vertical joints and vice versa due to the different materials which are used. Bitumen based fill compositions are often used for horizontal joints, whereas polysulfide-based or polyurethane-based materials are used for vertical joints. Due to the different material properties, particularly at contact points, such as the transition from a horizontal to a vertical joint, the materials used may have poor adhesion. Even worse, there may be an incompatibility between materials resulting in interactions, such as plasticizer migration with each other. The corresponding contact points thus represent weak points which do not fulfill the requirements of a sufficient seal against the leakage of environmentally hazardous fluids.
There is therefore a need for joint and crack filling material which solves this known problem from the prior art.